


Chocolate

by inbarati



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-15
Updated: 2010-04-15
Packaged: 2017-10-08 23:30:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inbarati/pseuds/inbarati





	1. Chapter 1

There's no two ways about it. Rodney McKay is a difficult and exacting man. It's actually one of the things John likes about him. You always know exactly where you stand with Rodney. There's no couching of angry words in polite terms; if Rodney wants you to go fuck yourself, he'll tell you so, in those exact words, in his, 'I'm a genius and you are an idiot' tone of voice.

John was once pretty sure he'd never tell Rodney that he liked anything about him. The man's ego was big enough for two galaxies, after all. There was no need to encourage it. John Sheppard, however, is not actually an idiot. He's noticed a few things about Rodney.

Rodney McKay is deeply insecure. He _knows_ no one likes him for who he is. They're after his brain if they talk to him at all. He has made a few abortive passes at Katie Brown, but even she can't break through his shell, and after a few dates, she stops trying. She dates one of John's marines. John gives him sewage duty for a month. Then he goes to see Rodney.

"Hey buddy," he says to Rodney's locked door. "It's Sheppard. You all right in there?" There's no answer, so John thinks open the door. Rodney is fully dressed lying in the rumpled bed, and this worries John. Rodney is nothing if not meticulous, and this does not bode well for his state of mind.

"Go away." Rodney is straightforward, even if he is speaking into his pillow.

John steps in and lets the door close. He returns the favor. "No."

"What's broken now, and why can't it wait until I've had a chance to be decently miserable for a while?"

"Nothing's broken. Stevens told me about Katie. I thought I'd come see you."

"Gloating doesn't become you, Colonel. Go away. I'll be fine by tomorrow." Rodney pushes his face further into the pillow. John can hear him sniffling.

"If I go away, you won't be able to see what I have for you. I could just go and eat them myself."

"Eat what?" Rodney lifts his face from the pillow.

Score one for the flyboy. "This." He wiggles a distinctive gold bag in his hand.

"Godiva? Where the hell did you get Godiva in the Pegasus galaxy?!" Rodney sits up.

"I requisitioned it in honor of your birthday. I have time to get you something else, though, and it seems like you could use a little pick-me-up." John tries not to let too much concern show.

"I'm fine!" Rodney insists, but doesn't stop looking at the chocolate.

"Right, and I'm Mr. Gordo, the wonder-pig," John sasses back, knowing the best way to pull Rodney out of a funk is to give him something to argue about.

"You've been watching Buffy with Teyla again, haven't you? And I'm fine, I just need time." Rodney isn't meeting John's eyes.

Rodney isn't really arguing, either, which makes John more worried. There is something seriously wrong with a Rodney who doesn't argue. "I borrowed Kavanagh's copy of _A Brief History of Time,_" he replies, hoping for some reaction.

Rodney just sighs. "Watching Bill Nye will give you a better grounding in physics." He flops back down on the bed. "If you're going to withhold the chocolate, you might as well leave."

John sits on the bed next to Rodney's knees and lays the small bag on his chest. "Accusing a man of withholding chocolate is tantamount to an act of war in some cultures, you know."

One side of Rodney's mouth curves up, and John starts to feel slightly better. "You know," Rodney replies, "the last time one of us declared war on the other, we almost destroyed actual civilizations."

"Okay," John concedes. "No war. You should come for a jumper ride with me, though. We can go to the mainland, sit in the sun for a while."

"What, exactly, is it about exposing myself to harmful radiation, that is supposed to make me feel better?"

There's the Rodney John has been waiting for. "Well, there's always the bitching at me part. We both know how much you love that." He listens to Rodney's resulting tirade with a smile, and then radios Elizabeth to let her know the plan.

When John goes back to his room after a tough mission a few weeks later, he finds a note on his computer with a file location, and _You're a good friend. –R._ In the file is all the Johnny Cash John could ever want, all the albums, and tons of concert bootlegs. He puts the whole folder on shuffle as he kicks off his boots. Rodney's a pretty good friend, himself.

***

Rodney wakes up on his birthday, to a loud banging on his door, and a chorus of 'Happy Birthday' that is so out of tune it makes his ears hurt. He looks at the clock. He was supposed to be in the lab three hours ago. Before he can fully wake up, the door opens, and John, Ronon, Teyla, and Radek march in, with breakfast, and presents, still singing. He looks around suspiciously. "Who messed with my alarm clock?"

They all just grin, but Rodney somehow thinks it was John.

"There aren't Wraith in the sky, Rodney." Radek says. "Stay out of labs today. Elizabeth's orders."

"Since when has Elizabeth successfully stopped me from working?" Rodney snorted.

"Since she got all of us to help." John looked smug. Smug was an annoyingly good look on John. Everything was an annoyingly good look on John. Not that Rodney noticed. Not even a little bit.

"Halling has made a dinner in your honor," Teyla added. "We will be going to the mainland this evening to celebrate."

"Jinto wants you to show him how to work the gyroscope you gave him for his birthday," Ronon added.

Rodney huffs. "You have my whole birthday planned for me. What if I wanted to stay in bed all day?"

The whole room erupts into laughter. "Rodney, you would not spend a day in bed if you were tied there." Radek snarks. Rodney tries hard not to blush.

***

The Christmas season comes a few months later. John is in the depths of Atlantis with _War and Peace_, avoiding the 'Winter Holiday' party that's being thrown. He'll make an appearance later, because he has to, but for now he can claim being on duty to let the marines enjoy themselves. He's engrossed enough in the book that he doesn't notice Rodney until the napkin full of chocolate chip walnut cookies lands in his lap. "How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me?"

"I'm not sure, but it's definitely fewer times than you've told me I have to try and be stealthier when we're on missions." Rodney sits next to him with his own pile of cookies, and flips open a laptop.

John would snark back, but his mouth is full of cookie. "Veesh err goo," he says.

"Don't tell Leslie I shared them with you," is Rodney's reply. He doesn't look up from his keyboard.

"Leshly oo?" John swallows.

"Leslie Cummins? The botanist?" Rodney replies impatiently.

"Oh," John says. "What is it with you and botanists, anyway?"

Rodney makes a face. "It's a curse."

"Yeah," John replies, "but it's a curse that nets you cookies. _Chocolate chip_ cookies." He waves a cookie at Rodney and takes another bite.

Rodney laughs and takes a bite, too.

***

John spends his birthday in the infirmary. He's just bored enough to be thinking about escape when Rodney ducks behind the curtain. He hands John a bag of M&amp;Ms. "Never get shot by angry natives again, and I'll keep you in chocolate for as long as you live." He flops down in a chair next to the bed. "Who will protect my jello from Ronon if you're dead?"

John grins. Rodney's cute when he's pretending not to be worried. "I'll make it a point to let them shoot you, instead, next time."

Rodney scoffs. "You took that arrow for that almost-dog, not me."

"Almost-dog?" John is openly laughing now.

"I think Ronon is trying to talk Elizabeth into letting us keep him." Rodney says with a sly smile.

"Talk? Ronon?"

"He went to her quarters after the debriefing." Rodney is still smiling.

John and Rodney proceed to have a whole conversation in complete silence, discussing what Ronon could possibly be doing in Elizabeth's quarters to persuade her, starting with quirked eyebrows and tilted heads, and ending in nods and matching leers. Carson catches the tail end when he comes to tell John he's free to return to his quarters.

"I have no idea what the two of you are grinning about, and I don't want to know. Last time the two of you smiled like that, it ended with Teyla throwing a scone at me." He hands John a bubble pack with two green pills in it. "Go to your quarters, take those and get some sleep. Whatever trouble the two of you are into can wait until that leg is healed." He turns to Rodney. "Since you're here, you can get him back to his room. No wheelchair races!"

He leaves as a simultaneous, "That was _his_ fault!" is shouted after him.


	2. Chapter 2

John Sheppard is a stubborn bastard. Rodney has known this since John sat in an off-limits chair in Antarctica, lighting up the universe at Rodney's command. Right now, however, John isn't lighting anything up. He's sick with some space flu, and Carson is worried, and John _won't_ stay in the infirmary, like he is supposed to.

"I'm overcoming my natural hypochondria to try and help you, the least you can do is let me help, you ungrateful bastard!" Rodney is shouting through the bathroom door.

"I don't need help to shower," is followed by a hacking cough that goes on for three minutes and forty-five seconds.

Yes, Rodney is timing it. There's a thud, and this time when Rodney tries to open the doors, they open. John is on the floor, gasping.

"Idiot. Let's get you into bed, or have you injured yourself enough that I can call Carson and tell him that you're stupid?"

John mumbles something that could be, "Fuck off," but Rodney's not sure. He helps John up, noticing that he's feverish. He's already stripped down to his boxers, so Rodney gets him into bed. He heads back into the bathroom and wets a small hand towel in cold water, going back to wipe John's face and chest. "S'good," John mutters.

"It would be better if you weren't deathly ill," Rodney grouses.

John fixes him with a stare that Rodney doesn't know the meaning of. "Yeah," he replies. "It would."

"Uh, yeah. Okay. So, are you hungry? I'm sure the mess has something you could eat."

John opens his bedside table and takes out plastic spoons and two snack packs of chocolate pudding, tossing the other pudding to Rodney.

"That's so healthy," Rodney cracks, though it doesn't stop him from tearing into his like it was the last food on Atlantis.

"It's not like I'll keep it down for more than a few minutes anyway." John mutters.

"You really don't like being sick," Rodney says, as if it's some sort of revelation. "I mean no-one likes to be sick, but you really hate it."

"Yeah," is all John says in reply.

"Why?"

"Makes me feel weak." This is definitely not something John would be sharing if he weren't half-delirious with fever. "My dad was never, well, he wasn't the type for coddling."

Rodney files that gem away in his mental spreadsheet of John's personal information, and goes to rinse the towel again. He wipes down John's face and chest again, folding the towel and letting it rest on John's forehead. He wouldn't dare call what he was doing to John 'coddling,' at least not to John's face, but he resolves to do it, just the same.

***

John pulls out his epi-pen and jabs Rodney in the thigh. "Jesus, Rodney, don't die on me. Ronon, can you carry him?"

They run for the gate. John prayed for the first time since his mother died. He radioed as soon as the wormhole opened. "Medical team to the gateroom. Rodney's in anaphylactic shock." Everything feels like it's in slow motion to John. They aren't moving fast enough. They're going to lose Rodney.

Carson is there when they gate through. "What happened?"

"We were having cake and tea with the elders. None of it tasted like citrus, so I told him it was okay to eat." John has never hated himself quite as much as he does right this moment. "I should have asked."

"They would not understand the word 'citrus,' Colonel Sheppard." Teyla gently reminded him.

"Yeah. Yeah." John shakes his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "He's going to be okay, right?"

"He'll be fine, Colonel. You got him here in time." Carson pats him on the shoulder as they rush the gurney to the infirmary.

A few days later, a very cranky, itchy Rodney is still in the infirmary. There's a pile of different chocolate things beside his bed. Brownies that look homemade, a Ghiradelli cocoa sampler, a Godiva dark chocolate Easter rabbit, a bag of Hershey's kisses, and a 72% dark chocolate bar from a company called Dagoba, which makes Rodney smile.

John, himself, is nowhere to be found, however. Rodney has asked after him, but he's been busy. Rodney tries not to act too disappointed.

***

Rodney is sitting quietly in a corner of the lab, piecing together bits of equations he's found in the database that seem to be related to recharging ZedPMs when he first hears her name.

"Yeah, Julie Inman, the sergeant that just got dropped of by the Daedalus. They're having dinner tonight."

"Does Dr. McKay know?"

"I don't know. I could've sworn they were together. They've been each other's hip pockets for months."

"Maybe they broke up?" The whispering continues as the two physicists walk out the door of the lab. Neither one of them knows Rodney could hear them. They could only be talking about John.

Rodney's not jealous. What would he have to be jealous of? He and John are friends, nothing more. John is U.S. military. They could never be more.

He checks out Inman's personnel file. She's blonde and blue-eyed, the picture of all-American cornfed sweetness. She probably likes football. Her service record is spotless. She lists softball as one of her hobbies. Rodney hates her. He spends the next half-hour rerouting sewage ventilation to her room.

***

It's an excruciating three months, twenty-one days, and seventeen hours later when Julie Inman and John Sheppard break up. The conversation that breaks them up is, of course, about Rodney.

"I requisitioned something special for tonight," Julie grins over breakfast.

"Tonight's team night, Julie. I'm busy." John has tried explaining before, and it hasn't gotten him anywhere, so he doesn't bother now.

"You spend more time with them than you do with me." Julie looks down at her plate, pushing eggs around with her fork.

"They're my team," John says, as if that explains everything.

"You'll be up until three in the morning with McKay and you know it."

"So? He's my best friend."

"Rumor has it you're more than friends."

"We are. I did say _best_ friend." John's voice has danger in it.

"That's not what I meant, and you know that too."

"Sergeant Inman, I have no idea what you are talking about, and I won't discuss it until and unless you file a formal complaint. Good day." John bussed his tray and left the mess.

***

Rodney hands John a Hershey's bar. "So why did the two of you break up?"

_Almonds. Rodney always has the best candy._ "She didn't like the amount of time I was spending with you… guys." John gestures to include Teyla and Ronon, even though they aren't in the room anymore. "She was too clingy, anyway."

"You know, we could cut team night back to twice a month instead of every week…"

"No. You have my back when we're out there fighting god knows what. I'm not going to let her jeopardize that." John is strangely adamant.

Rodney, for once, doesn't argue. "Okay. I never liked her anyway." He grins a lopsided grin at John. "That's the obligatory ex line, isn't it?"

John grins back, relieved for reasons he doesn't want to examine too closely. "Yeah, it is."

***

Rodney walk into John's room three days after John rides a moon through atmosphere, and nearly gets himself killed. He doesn't knock. John is puling his shirt over his head. John starts to turn around, but Rodney stops him. "Stay… Just… Keep facing the other way, okay? I have some things to say, and I'm not sure I'll get them out if you're looking at me."

John turns back around, but doesn't say anything, which makes Rodney nervous. "I uh… I realized today, that I have come to care for you a great deal. Perhaps more than is suitable. I've told Elizabeth to assign another scientist to the team. They won't be as capable as I am, naturally, but I think Trevor Porter will do nicely. He's good at what he does."

Rodney turns, and starts out the door, but John's voice stops him. "You asked me if there was anything I wanted to say, and I lied." It sounds like John is having to force the words out, his voice rough and his breathing harsh and irregular, but he doesn't turn around. "I lied, and I almost died without you knowing, well obviously you don't know if you think you're replaceable, and you're not, not at all, so forget Trevor Porter. There are days that I go to the lab because just seeing you makes everything so much easier. I just…" There's a long pause. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

It's more words than John usually speaks at once, and at first all Rodney can say is, "Oh."

John turns around, his eyes red-rimmed, to watch Rodney think, as he integrates a new batch of information, knowing that whatever Rodney is going to say will be written on his face first.

"You're not just saying that to keep me on the team?"

John just shakes his head, slowly, the ghost of a smile in his eyes when Rodney begins to look hopeful. Then he frowns.

"Julie?" He asks.

"Julie was reassigned to the SGC. She leaves on the Daedalus next week." John throws a pillow at Rodney's head.

Rodney dodges with agility that surprises both of them. He steps close, gingerly tracing John's collarbone with trembling fingertips. "So, is there an 'us'?"

Instead of answering, John pulls him closer, tenderly kissing him until they are both out of breath. Rodney tastes better than chocolate.


End file.
